On Friday 13 February, an organization of concerned students calling itself The New University (http://newuni.nl/) occupied the Bungehuis, one of the University of Amsterdam’s buildings and one of the Humanities Faculty’s primary locations. The students are protesting the financialization of academic life, and are calling for the radical democratization of university management. According to press… Continue reading
Date archives "March 2015"
Havin Guneser on the Rojava Revolution
Record of a lecture in London, by Havin Guneser, spokesperson of the International Initiative – Freedom for Ocalan, and David Graeber: “At mid-afternoon on 15 September 2014, the foreign minister of Kobane, Omer Mus, received a call from a UN official stating that Turkey was prepared to take in 40,000 refugees crossing the border from… Continue reading
Family Time
For a country whose politicians make so much of “family values,” it’s perplexing that the United States remains the only industrialized country on the planet with no requirement for paid parental leave. Parents not lucky enough to have a job that offers a few paid weeks off must choose between those vital first days with… Continue reading
Why the P2P Age Needs Facilitation
Excerpted from Alpha Lo: “Facilitation is about bringing people together, to listen to each other, to connect, to empathize, to work things out, to heal social trauma, to collaborate, and to dream. Facilitation is about creating a space for people’s deeper selves to emerge, for people’s creativity to blossom, for people’s intuitions to come alive…. Continue reading
The Hacker Logic of Podemos
Excerpted from Andrew Dolan in Red Pepper, and based on a interview of Eduardo Maura, international representative of Podemos: “In describing this phenomenon Maura speaks of the ‘hacker logic’ that from the outset structured Podemos’s approach to politics: ‘We operated from the very beginning in what we call the logic of proliferation, the hacker logic…. Continue reading
Permadesign
By Vera Bradova. Original post here. Reading nature’s book is what permaculture is all about. — Toby Hemenway If humans are ever going to live sustainably on this planet, we simply cannot continue thinking that sustainability is something we must engineer. — Paula Hay Permaculture has progressed from offering another way to farm and garden… Continue reading
Our cities shouldn’t rely on Uber to devise new transport choices – Evgeny Morozov
The outcome of key battles about developing smart cities will depend on who owns the data. There is no reason why it has to be private companies – Evgeny Morozov for the Guardian As regulators from India to France continue to crack down on Uber, the popular taxi-hailing app, the company has embarked on a… Continue reading
Towards an Open Cooperativist Development Agency – Henry Tam
All for One, & One for All Towards an Open Cooperativist Development Agency By Henry Tam Economic systems and practices that exploit workers, users, communities and the environment to the detriment of our common good have long ceased to command respect. The only reason they nonetheless persist is that most people do not see other,… Continue reading
Call for Submissions on the Precariousness of Knowledge Workers
Volume 10 No 2 of Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation will be a special themed issue on The Precariousness of Knowledge Workers: hybridisation, marketisation and subjectification in global value chains The notion of ‘knowledge worker’ has become the focus of a rich range of debates in a variety of scientific approaches and disciplines, from sociology… Continue reading
The emergence of sophisticated p2p-based solidarity economic networks
I have identified three ambitious projects that are under construction but at the same time based on already existing projects and infrastructures. They are: 1) the FairCoop (incl. the faircoin alt.currency) network build under the leadership of the Catalan Integral Cooperative 2) the Mutual Aid Network in Madison, Wisconsin, which aims to scale beyond that… Continue reading
Envisioning a Bottom-Up Energy Transition: the plan of the Taunton Deane Borough Council
Excerpted from John Thackara: “A bottom-up, pull-based approach is exemplified by a new publication out of the Transition Towns movement. The Chief Executive of Taunton Deane Borough Council, in the UK, asked two transitioners, Chrissie Godfrey and Paul Birch, to work with the council on a series of workshops that would enable workers and elected… Continue reading
Two Europes exist and it is necessary to position oneself in one or the other
Left-Europe-democratic radicality: this dispositive is becoming increasingly important for defining the defense of working-class interests and for emancipation of the population from poverty. There is a long and dirty tradition of left-sovereigntists that must be ended, just as we must defeat the populist experiences that use national sentiments and transform them into fascist (nationalist, identitarian,… Continue reading
Traditional state-owned model of public services is coming to an end
Going with the grain: organising for a purpose by Cliff Mills Abstract The traditional state-owned model of public services is coming to an end. The search for a new model benefits from reflection on the historical background, and an understanding of the broader context of concepts of public service. Modern mutuals seek both to provide… Continue reading
Is Permaculture Turning into a Landscape Design Product?
After Vera Bradova’s obviously very provocative essay; “Utopians are ruining everything“, which spurred an intense discussion both at P2P-Foundation and at the original essay, John Wheeler toward the end made an interesting comment: Sorry I took so long to get back to you. Yes, while I got my PDC almost 2 decades ago, I am… Continue reading
Facebook Is Not a Adequate Communication Platform
The ironic thing about Facebook is that, for a social media platform, it’s not really very much about social communication. It’s really more of a short-form news/blog aggregator. It’s still just another kind of bulletin board. Eric Hunting: “I noticed this trend some years ago, to my own despair. I first noticed it in the… Continue reading
The Evergreen cooperative model in Cleveland is no panacea and confronts multiple obstacles
“It’s been harder than I thought, but I’m heartened we’re still here,” Howard says. “We’ve stabilized, and we’re back on a growth curve, and I think Evergreen has been able to—it’s something that represents a possibility or hope for people, in a field where so much of what people have tried has just hit a… Continue reading